Category: Our African Way

1988, our first year in Cape Town, was new and exciting in many ways, but it was also during that time that Jurie went through a huge ordeal that significantly illustrates the South Africa in which we were living at the time.

By the end of 1987 I was half way through the higher diploma in Fine Arts and Jurie had completed his diploma in Photography. At that stage of South African history young white men faced compulsory national service conscription. Usually, the school leavers would be allowed to study one academic course, but then had to join up. Prior to studying photography Jurie had already done a year of a medical degree, so his options as to how to avoid conscription were becoming limited. He wanted to pursue his interest in biology at the University of Cape Town, so found a posse of lawyers to keep him out of the army for another few years.

....There were also other valuable experiences, less pleasurable. Detail tends to become blurred, but I clearly remember one occasion, some distance from Xunaraxa, when the camp’s game-drive vehicle was rolled....

... which will be issued here on the Djuma Weblog every two weeks. You the reader are most welcome to post feedback as the story progresses.
The writings that follow evolved from years of telling stories to guests that passed through Djuma Game Reserve’s lodges. Many years later the stories made their way onto pages so that our children would have a record of what was keeping their parents busy for all those years. The Djuma Story, or “Our African Way” starts many years before Djuma itself was created, but there were several indications early on that Jurie and I were to create an entity that would develop into something far beyond our expectations.
Some of the chapters are lengthy and will be split up over a couple of editions. I will be adding photos as I go along, and welcome responses and perhaps recollections and reflections of your own, by posting comments in the comment section below.
Philippa Moolman